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The AESA (Alberta Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture) Farm Based Program, for the first time, is moving to three-year extension program plans from one-year projects. This change allows municipalities and agricultural organizations to identify the needs of their producers and to determine specific, measurable program objectives to address those needs. The longer term funding received from AESA will allow these groups to hire full-time manpower dedicated to achieving their environmentally sustainable agriculture program objectives.
"We've moved to this new approach because sustainable practices may have long-term economic benefits, not always short-term," explains Dale Chrapko, AESA Conservation Coordinator. "It takes time working with producers more on a one-to-one basis to show these long term benefits and to provide technical support to producers when implementing any necessary changes."
"The extension people being hired by municipalities and agricultural organizations will be a knowledge base for conservation issues, and also to provide technical support for the new environmental farm plan program coming this fall," says Chrapko. The extension staff will have post-secondary education and come with expertise in various areas of conservation. "In the areas they don't have expertise or answers, they have a strong resource base and links to experts who do have the answers on conservation related issues," adds Chrapko. He is also encouraging municipalities to share the expertise and strengths of their extension staff with other municipalities and organizations where possible.
The new AESA three-year plans include specific and measurable objectives. "Along with manpower to provide the one-to-one information, AESA funds can also be used for related extension activities to support the three-year program," says Chrapko. "The major change is that AESA clients now know that if provincial funding is available, they have a budget that has been approved over their three year program," he adds.
For the Counties of Minburn and Vermilion River, the move to the three-year AESA program is a positive change. "We've partnered with the County of Vermilion River to hire a full-time agrologist for three years specifically to deliver extension programming in our counties," says Darwin Ullery, Agriculture Fieldman for Minburn County. "In the past, we tried to utilize our own people and do what programming we could because we didn't know if funding would be there the next year," he adds. Now, they have a commitment to hire someone specifically for the three-year program.
The two counties have established three priority areas they will focus on over their three-year plan, including wind erosion and reduction of summerfallow, grazing management and manure management. "Although a lot of work has been done over the past 10 years on wind erosion, it is still an issue for us," says Ullery. "We've had high winds the last couple of springs and increased erosion problems, so we want to focus on education to reduce extensive tillage." Grazing management with a focus on more intensive grazing is also a priority, as is manure management, in terms of composting and spreading.
A full-time person is expected to be hired and in place by mid-March or April. As part of implementing the three-year plan, this person will be pursuing partnerships with other agencies. "Our role will be as advisor to the agrologist, and as administrator for program funding and related activities," says Ullery. "We will also play a key role in keeping the communication line open between this person and our local councils, especially since this is a shared position between two municipalities." The position will be located out of the Alberta Agriculture office in Vermilion, which is between the two municipal offices located in Vegreville and Kitscoty. Other municipalities and counties across Alberta have similar staffing plans for their three-year AESA programs.
For more information, contact: Dale Chrapko or Darwin Ullery.
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